�Chemical Pesticides �and Human Health: �How Salud con lupa investigated it

Fabiola Torres

2023

A HIDDEN POISON ON MY PLATE

Salud con lupa carried out a laboratory analysis showed that vegetables and fruits sold in the largest supermarkets contain pesticides that exceed the maximum permissible limits in Peru. ��In 51 of 84 samples of yellow pepper, celery, strawberry, beet, pepper, chinese onion and tomato, high concentrations of agrochemical residues with potential health damage were found.

We also founded that Bayer, Syngenta Group, Basf and Agrolac market in Peru 19 pesticides which are prohibited in the European Union due to their potential damage to human health and the environment.

Paraquat is Syngenta Group's best-selling pesticide, but it has been banned in the European Union since 2007.

Mancozeb has been banned since 2020 in the European Union. Bayer sells it to Peruvian farmers under the name Mancozil.

At least four persons go to health services every day for acute poisoning related to pesticides. Seven out of ten poisonings occur because people, many of whom are farmers, had contact with pesticides orally or through the skin.

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How we investigate it?��Stage 1

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• 84 samples were subjected to a multi-residue analysis.
• Food from Metro, Tottus, Minka, Wong, Plaza Vea and Vivanda supermarkets.
• All samples were delivered to a certificated laboratory.
• Each sample was assigned a code.
• The process was certified by public notaries.

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Useful online databases

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Beyond pesticides: Pesticide-Induced Disease Database

https://www.beyondpesticides.org/resources/beyond-pesticides-resources

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International Code of Conduct on Pesticide Management Guidelines on Highly Hazardous Pesticides

https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/205561/9789241510417_eng.pdf;jsessionid=EA6D6B2479F167A83D1548F477C7C047?sequence=1

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How we investigate it?�Stage 2

• Registry of agrochemicals authorized by the National Agrarian Health Service (Senasa).

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• List of pesticides banned in the European Union.

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• Importations/Exportations reports from the last five years.

19 types of pesticides banned in Europe are exported to Peru

What kind of impact are we having?

• After our investigation, congressmen propose an initiative to prohibit the manufacture, marketing and use of pesticides that pose a high risk to health and the environment in Peru.

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• The list includes 10 agrochemicals: methomyl, oxamil, chlorpyrifos, glyphosate, mancozeb, imidacloprid, thiamethoxam, clothianidin, fipronil and cypermethrin.

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• Several are banned in the European Union, the United States and other countries in the region, but they are still used in Peru.

Thanks

@saludconlupa

fabiolatorres@saludconlupa.com